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(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. A. WELCH, R. R. TRAVERS au C. RRTRRSRN. VRNDING APPARATUS.

Patented A131218, 1893.

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i f n @9i/meme@ (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. A. WELCH, HQR. TRAVERS su c. PETBRSBN. VENDING APPARATUS.

No. 495,536. Patented Apr. 18, v1893.

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L/M u WM f [3. f 'M01/@M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. VELCH, HERMAN R. TRAVERS, AND CHRISTlAN PETERSEN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND; SAID TRAVERS AND PETERSEN ASSIGNORS TO SAID VELCH.

VENDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 495,536, dated April 18, 1893.

' Application filed .T une 6. 1892. Serial No. 435,793. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE A. WELCH, HERMAN R. TRAVERS, and CHRISTIAN PETER- SEN, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending Apparatus; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in vending apparatus, and which is intended especially for selling newspapers, and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts which will be fully described hereinafter and particularly referred to in the claims. The object of our invention is to provide a vending apparatus, which can be placed in a car or other room, and supported near the ceiling thereof, or at any convenient and desirable height, and to so construct the operating mechanism, that a coin may be dropped in a tube at any desired distance and relation from and to the apparatus, and the machine by the operation of the coin, or its Weight, made to deliver a newspaper or other article to the person dropping in the coin or coins, automatically without the necessity of the purchaser operating any part whatever of the machine, other than to drop in the proper coin or coins.

In theaccompanying drawings:-Figure l is a perspective view of an apparatus einbodying our invention, the door at the front being open, and the coin slot partially in section. Fig. 2 is a Vertical section taken transverse the article receiving and delivering wheel. Fig. 3 is a detached vertical section of the coin tube taken `longitudinal the coin slot. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the coin tube and the coin receiver placed therein. Fig. 5 is a view at right angles to Fig. 2.

A indicates a casing or box which is provided with a hinged door B at its front end, which is hinged to swing down as illustrated in Fig. l, and with an article exit slot C in the bottom thereof. This box is intended to be supported in a car or room above the head of the occupants, and preferably at one end of the car, though it may be placed in any other desired position, for instance in the center of the car. A shaft D has its rear end j onrnaled in a` plate E which is secured to the inner side of the rear of the box, and this shaft projects inward into Athe box a suitable distance. Secured to this shaft at its inner end is a ratchet wheel F, with which a pawl G engages, and thus the shaft is locked against rotation in one direction, while at the same time it is allowed to freely revolve in the opposite direction, for the purpose of winding up the mechanisnnas will appear farther 0n. Journaled at their centers upon this shaft, and revolving free thereof are the two l 'of this shaft, just outside of the outer frame or plate I-I is a plate K which forms a Winding key by means of which the said spring is wound up. As the spring is being wound the shaft is prevented from revolvingagainst the tension thereof by means of the ratchet secured to its inner end, and hence the tension of the spring is exerted upon the cylinder, and causes the same to revolve when permitted, as will be presently fully described. Extending radially from the outer side of this cylinder are the plates or arms L, between which the papers or other articles to besold are placed, and supported thereby. The lower portion of this article receiving wheel (which is composed of the cylinder and the radially extending arms) is surrounded by a curved casing M, which holds the articles in `place as the Wheel is revolved as will be readily understood. This article receiving and delivering wheel is held from rotation, and allowed to rotate the distance from one of the radiating arms to the other, by means of the following Inechanismz-Connected to the rear or inner end of the Wheel is a disk or plate N, which is provided withaseries of projections IDO P, one for each of the radial arms, and preferably between them. Pivoted near itsinner end and over this plate or disk N is a lever Q, which is provided with a weight R at its outer and free end. Between the pivotal point of this lever and its free end is a shoulder S, which is in the path traveled by the shoulders of the plate N, and with which the said shoulders engage, for the purpose of holding the wheel against rotation, as the lever is held down by its own gravity in the proper position to have its shoulder S engage the shoulders or projections P of the plate N. This lever is raised atits free end for the purpose of permitting the article receiving and delivering wheel to revolve, by means of a cord T which has one end connected to the free end of the said lever and its opposite end wrapped around a shaft a, which carries a wheel b. This wheel is grooved in its periphery and receives one end of an operating` cord c, the opposite end of the cord being connected and operated as will be fully described presently, and the said wheel b made to partially revolve and the lever raised so that its shoulder releases the projection of the plate N with which it is engaging. This lever has its inner endwl, projecting inside of its pivotal point a'short distance as shown, and in the path traveled by the projections P of the plate N. By means of this construction when the lever is raised at its free end by means of Athe partial revolution of the shaft a, and the article wheel allowed to revolve, the shoulder P which is released by the raising of the lever, immediately engages the inwardly extending end of the lever, and there'by forces its free end down again and carries the projectionv thereof in the path traveled by the next succeeding shoulder P, so that the article wheel is allowed'to revolve only from one projection P to the next. This partial revolution of the article wheel, brings one of the radiating arms at each side of the delivery slot in the bottom of the box, so that the paper or article held between the said arms is allowed to drop freely through the said slot. While we here show and describe a cord for connecting the free end of the lever and the shaft a, we do not limit ourselves to this construction, forit will be readily understood that the shaft d may be provided with a pinion, and the free end of the said lever with a rack with which the said pinion will engage, and thus the revolution or partial revolution of the said shaft a made to raise the free end of the lever -in the same manner as it does through the medium of the cord shown and described. As this is a mechanical expedient so well understood, and which forms no part of our invention, outside of its combination, it is not thought necessary to show the modification referred to. The wheelbis revolved and the lever thereby operated to allow the article wheel to revolve as described to deliver an article, by a coin or coins, in the manner to be now describedz-A coin tube e is either attached directly to the bottom of the box, under the wheel b, or to the lower end of a tubef, or at any convenient place in the car or room, as will appear farther on, and the cord c passes from the wheel b into the said coin tube. This coin tube is constructed inside as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, that is to say, witha vertical slot g, and a slot at each side thereof, the one h forming a coin slot or tube, and the one La weight tube or slot. A receiving blockj, is constructed as shown in Fig. 4 that is to say with a web portion Z, which moves in the slot g, and a coin receiving portion m which moves in the coin slot 7L, and a portion n which moves in the weight slot t', for'the purpose of receivinga weight ashereinafter described. At the Lipper end of the coin tube is a laterally extending portion p, through which the coin to operate the apparatus is inserted, from whence it rolls into the upper end of the coin slot h, and drops upon the coin receiver which moves vertically in this tube. Aslotqis at the lower end of the coin tube or slot 7L, and extends laterally through the tube e, and communi-- cates with a coin receptacle r, which is locked to the lower end of the tube. The lower end of the cordcis connected to the coin receiver, and as before described its upper end to the wheel b. The coin is dropped into the portion p, and rolls into the upper end of the tube 7L, and falls upon the coin receiver, which is not heavy enough of itself to operate the wheel Z) and thereby raise the free' end of the lever Q to allow the article wheel to revolve, but when the weight of the coin is added thereto, the receiver descends, operates the wheel Z9 by means of the cord c, and thereby raises the free end of the locking and releasing lever Q. The coin receiver descends, until the coin reaches the lateral slot q, when it drops into the coin receptacle r, and the coin receiver is then allowed to rise, and the free end of the lever Q then drops to lock the article wheel, and prevent it from revolving more than from one projection P to the next, thus feeding to the purchaser only7 one paper each time it is operated.

If the price of the paper is one cent, then sufficient weight will be added to the coin receiver to require only the weight of a penny to cause the receiver to descend, but if the price of the paper is two cents, then the Weight will be correspondingly reduced, and so on up to three or four pennies. It will be seen that the apparatus can be adjusted to suit any priced paper that is placed therein.

By means of the tripping or coin operating mechanism just described, the coin tube can be placed at any desired place, and in any desired relation to the box as the operating cord c can be passed around corners, by simply providing a pulley for it to run upon. When the coin tube is placed any desired distance from the box, the cord c is placed in a suitable tube so that it cannot be interfered with in any manner.

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Where it is desired to sell several papers, several boXes will be placed side by side, one containing one paper and the other another paper. In this instance each box will have thereon the name of the paper it contains, and the price thereof, and the tripping mechanism be adjusted to operate only when the proper amount is dropped therein.

By means of a vending apparatus of the character described, it will be seen, that the purchaser does not have to perform any operation whatever, and therefore instructions are unnecessary, which are very objectionable to the purchaser. In our apparatusit is only7 necessary to drop in the coin or coins, and the apparatus does the rest without any attention whatever on the part of the purchaser.

The apparatus is adapted to sell any desired article, though it is especially designed for the sale of newspapers.

The whole machine is simple and cheap to manufacture, and not liable to get out of order.

For the purpose of attracting the attention of persons near by when an article is purchased, abell s is supported in the upper cor ner of the box opposite the lever Q, and a clapper mechanism t of the ordinary construction for operating the clapper, and this mechanism` is provided with a Wheel u having radial arms or projections o, with which the shoulders P of the plate or disk N engage as the article wheel revolves, thus turning or operating the clapper mechanism and sounding an alarm each time an article is purchased.

Instead of using the boards L to form compartments as described, springs L may be secured to the cylinder I, thus forming clamps for holding the papers and these springs will be operated by means of a projection when they reach the openingin the boX, so that the paper will dropout. So also it `may be found advisable to make the casing in the form of a frame and cover it with wire so that the papers can be seen. There will be placed a card in one of apartments or springs, and held by means of a string, so that when all of the papers are sold, it will drop down, and will have printed thereon All sold or other words indicating the same meaning.

Having thus described our invention, what weclaim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent is 1. A vending apparatus, comprising a rotary article wheel, a spring for revolving the same, the said article wheel provided with shoulders, a lever having a shoulder in the path of the article wheel shoulders, a coin tube, a coin receiver supported therein, and separate from the lever and a connection between the said coin receiver and the said lever, whereby the latter is raised by the weight of the coin, substantially as described.

2. A coin controlled apparatus comprising an article rotating wheel, a locking and releasing mechanism for the said wheel, a coin tube having a coin receiver slot, a coin receiver sliding within the said slot, a connection between the said receiver and the said tripping apparat-us, the coin tube having an exit slot at the lower end of the coin slot, and a coin receptacle, substantially as specified.

3. A` coin controlled vending apparatus, comprising an article delivering device,an actuating mechanism therefor, a locking and releasing means, a coin tube separate fromthe said, delivering means, the said coin tube having a coin slot, a coin receiver within the said slot, a flexible connection between the said receiver and locking and releasing means, a delivery slot at the lower end of the coin slot, and a coin receptacle, subtantially as described. Y

4. A coin controlled vending apparatus, comprising an article delivering and receiving device, an actuating mechanism therefor, a locking and releasing mechanism for the article device, a coin tube having a coin slot and a weight slot, a coin receiverwithin both slots, a slot at the lower end of the said coin slot a coin receptacle, and a flexible connection between the coin receiver and the said locking and releasing mechanism, substantially as set forth. i

5. A vending apparatus comprising an article deliverywheel having spring clamps which hold the articles to be sold, a means for revolving the wheel intermittently, and a means for operating the said springs to release the articles, substantially Vas specified.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. VVELCH.` HERMAN It.Y TRAVERS. CHRISTIAN PETERSEN.

Witnesses:

FELIX R. SULLIVAN, HEBER l-I. STRYKER.

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